Student Research Spotlight

Jayakumaran Ravi

Department:

Computer Graphics Technology

Advisor:

Dr. Bedrich Benes

Research Title:

3D reconstruction of apple tree geometry using time of flight camera

Research Description:

Tree geometry is extremely complicated and its capturing poses an important open problem. Traditional methods use images, laser scans, or user-assisted sketching mechanisms to retrieve the 3D geometry. We focus on the problem of reconstruction and scanning of Golden Delicious apple trees by using time of flight camera (Microsoft Kinect v2). We begin the scanning process by acquiring a full view of the tree and then slowly moving the sensor closer to obtain more precise detail of the fine branching structure. This is performed on each side of the tree. The recovered point cloud is then run through a reconstruction algorithm that recreates the mesh from several scans of the same tree by using statistical measures of similarity of the tree surface. The complete geometry is then enhanced by time-lapse photographs. Output is a 3D temporal model of a tree over the span of one year.

About Me:

I come from Chennai, Tamil Nadu in the southern part of India. I received my bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering Guindy(CEG), Chennai. My fascination with computer graphics started early while casually playing video games. I learned to program with C++ and OpenGL during my undergraduate years in my spare time. My view of our real world changed while programming with OpenGL. I quickly realized that the concepts I learnt in my mechanical engineering courses could be potentially translated into computer graphics simulations. Ever since that revelation, my philosophy has been to understand the real world through computer graphics programming. I came here to the United States to widen my understanding and explore new frontiers in computer graphics. I am currently a Master’s student working at the High Performance Computer Graphics (HPCG) lab under the guidance of Dr. Bedrich Benes. In the time I spent here, I have learnt a great deal through interactions with my peers. In my current research, my lab-mates and I are collaborating with a research group from the Horticulture department of Purdue to understand the growth of Apple Trees. Our nature works in mysterious ways and such collaborations have the effect of enriching one’s comprehension of the world from a completely different view-point.